Colgate-Palmolive has reported a 5.5% growth in organic sales in the second quarter of its financial year driven by strong performance in North America (+11%) and Hill’s pet nutrition (11.5%) division.
The company’s net sales amounted to $3.9 billion (€3.3 billion) during the quarter, up 1% year-on-year from $3,866 million in 2019.
Operating profit amounted to $946 million (€802.1 million) from $888 million (€752.9 million) in 2019, up 7% year-on-year, while diluted earnings per share increased 9% to $0.74 from $0.68 in the second quarter of 2019.
'Elevated Demand'
Chairman, president and CEO of Colgate-Palmolive, Noel Wallace, commented, “Our momentum continued in the second quarter, despite the many challenges brought on by the global COVID-19 pandemic, including government actions to stem the spread of the virus.
“We continue to see elevated demand across our geographies in certain categories such as liquid hand soap, dish liquid, bar soap and cleaners. In other categories, we are starting to see the impact of consumers working down their pantry inventories, particularly in Europe.”
Divisional Performance
The company’s North American division saw net sales growth of 12% followed by Hill’s at 9.5% and Europe at 5.5%.
Sales in Latin America dropped by 13.5%, while Africa/Eurasia and the Asia Pacific reported a 6% and 3% decline respectively.
The company’s global market share in toothpaste stood at 40.0% year to date, while manual toothbrushes accounted for a market share of 31.0% year to date.
Outlook
Wallace added that the company expects a mid-single-digit negative impact on net sales for the year from foreign exchange, based on current spot rates.
“Given the continued uncertainty related to the impact of the virus and government actions to stem the virus, including macroeconomic impacts, we have decided not to reinstate our financial guidance for 2020 at this time," he said and continued, "As we proceed through this pandemic we plan to reinstate our guidance when we have the visibility to forecast our results with more confidence.”
© 2020 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
